Elections Trends in Melanesia and Prospects for the 2014 Solomon Islands Elections

Abstract

With Solomon Islands due to go to the polls in late 2014, it is timely to reflect on how elections in Melanesia are trending, and what we might expect with the upcoming polls. Rather than improving, the integrity of elections in Melanesia is diminishing. Over the course of the past few elections, fraud and malpractice have increased in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to varying degrees. Money politics has also proliferated in all three countries, and information and communication technology (ICT) environments have changed profoundly (Logan 2014). Show more